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Greenville native Light plays 'guardian role' for Patriots

New England Patriots left tackle Matt Light laughs at a question while being interviewed Wednesday in Indianapolis. Light, who grew up in Greenville, will add a fourth Super Bowl ring to his collection if the Patriots defeat the New York Giants on Sunday.

Associated Press photo by Mark Humphrey New England Patriots left tackle Matt Light laughs at a question while being interviewed Wednesday in Indianapolis. Light, who grew up in Greenville, will add a fourth Super Bowl ring to his collection if the Patriots defeat the New York Giants on Sunday.

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New England Patriots offensive tackle Matt Light, a three-time Super Bowl winner, is a native of Greenville and his parents still live there. After winning All-Ohio honors at Greenville High, he became an All-Big Ten lineman at Purdue and then was chosen in the second round of the 2001 draft by the Patriots.

Associated Press photo New England Patriots offensive tackle Matt Light, a three-time Super Bowl winner, is a native of Greenville and his parents still live there. After winning All-Ohio honors at Greenville High, he became an All-Big Ten lineman at Purdue and then was chosen in the second round of the 2001 draft by the Patriots.

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By Tom Archdeacon, Staff Writer Updated 7:46 AM Friday, February 3, 2012

INDIANAPOLIS — The question made Matt Light shake his head.

The New England Patriots’ big left tackle was asked how it has felt — through 11 NFL seasons and, come Sunday, five Super Bowls — to be the valued protector of his quarterback’s blind side.

In other words: “What’s it like to be Tom Brady’s guardian angel?”

“Guardian angel?” Light said with a bemused smile. “Yeah, I float everywhere I go. ... I’m not sure, though, how he characterizes me, but I’m pretty sure guardian angel is a far cry from it.”

He might not call himself that — and New York Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora, who’ll knock heads with him in Sunday’s Super Bowl XLVI, certainly doesn’t embrace that thought — but a lot of other folks sure see the 6-foot-4, 305-pound lineman from Greenville as a jumbo-sized guardian.

Those who have truly witnessed his protective wingspan are young people in need — inner-city kids from Nashville and Rhode Island, teenagers from West Lafayette, Ind., a Cheyenne Indian reservation in Montana and, especially, youngsters from his own Darke County.

There is no place where Light’s presence “floats” over the area like it does in Greenville. It’s not just that he grew up there and that his parents, Bill and Marilyn, still live there. It’s where he has built the centerpiece of his Matt Light Foundation, a nearly 500-acre camp outside of town called Chenoweth Trails.

The Foundation has been in the news the past few days because Light has sponsored a Super Bowl raffle in which the winner will be his guest in Indianapolis this weekend.

And that means two tickets to the game at Lucas Oil Stadium, a room at a premium hotel tonight, Saturday and Sunday nights, transportation costs, payment of the gift tax that’s placed on such a prize, an autographed Brady jersey and a football signed by the Pats offensive line and hand-delivered by Light himself.

Tickets cost just $2 and as of Thursday morning, Light said $265,000 already had been collected. All of it was going to add facilities and improvements to Chenoweth Trails, which not only benefits kids in need from across the United States, but youth, service and church groups from across Darke County.

“Like I told my family the other day, there’s a reason I come back and keep doing these things,” the 33-year-old Light said during a break in preparations for Sunday’s game. “I love the Super Bowl rings and the recognition of being a football player is great, but to me, the most important part of it is the off-the- field stuff and being able to create a foundation is the best part of it.”

Always protective

Growing up, Light was more interested in hunting and fishing than football and said he had no idea the sport could be his ticket in life: “I wasn’t even aware you could get a scholarship to play in college. Then people started knocking on my door, saying we’ll give you a full ride.”

After winning All-Ohio honors at Greenville High, he became an All-Big Ten lineman at Purdue and then was chosen in the second round of the 2001 draft by the Patriots.

Since then he has played in 172 games (starting all but two), been selected to the Pro Bowl three times and won three Super Bowl rings.

While he’s made his name with muscle, he’s just as well known around the Pats dressing room for his mirth. When a hang-on-every-word young reporter asked him why he had been so successful for so many years, Light’s brown eyes lit up as he shared the secret of his success:

“I keep a salt block in my house and I lick it constantly. That’s pretty much been the key to my success. I’m like a deer in the woods looking for minerals at any chance.”

One thing he did find was gold, signing a six-year contract extension worth $27 million in 2004. After that, Light enrolled in the NFL Business Management and Entrepreneurial Program and soon after began his foundation, which now has a bit more than a $1 million endowment.

“It was all his idea to start the foundation,” Bill Light said. “From the time Matt was a little kid, he was looking out for someone else. He was a protector — literally. If there was another little kid getting picked on, even if it took physicality, Matt would put a stop to it. He’s been like that forever.”

Light’s foundation not only uses the outdoors to help young people better themselves, but it takes on a myriad of other causes. He holds a football camp every year in Greenville. An auction last fall raised $40,000 for three elementary schools in Foxborough, Mass.

When Dan Pires, a popular 52-year-old New Bedford Standard Times sportswriter died during a workout on a school track in 2008, Light sponsored a scholarship in memory of him.

One of the unique things the foundation does is sponsor its Vohokase leadership training camp. It originated while Light was on a trip to hunt buffalo with members of the Cheyenne tribe in Montana.

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